1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a gas generator assembly for use in a restraining device of a vehicle such as an airbag apparatus, and an airbag apparatus in which the gas generator assembly is used.
An air bag apparatus is a device for protecting an occupant at the time of the impact with an airbag inflated by introducing an inflating gas generated from a gas generator.
A gas discharge direction should be determined to avoid generation of a thrust force in such a case that the gas generator is activated improperly prior to attachment thereof to a vehicle or the airbag. And when the gas generator is attached to a module and activated, the introduction of the gas into the airbag is regulated in a manner that the airbag is deployed basically symmetrically.
Especially in the case of a gas generator using a cylindrical housing in which a gas discharge port is provided at one end in the axial direction of the housing, gas is fed preferentially in the vicinity of the gas discharge port in an airbag. This causes uneven deployment or primarily partial inflation of the airbag. In this case, sufficient restraining performance cannot be realized.
For this reason, a gas generator is designed to cancel a thrust force by setting the discharge direction of the gas to be radial. Further, in order to evenly deploy an airbag, gas flow is dispersed in the axial direction by using a means such as to flow an inflation gas, which is generated in one end in the axial direction of a housing of an air bag, towards the opposite end.
2. Description of Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,671,945 discloses a gas generator in which a gas discharge opening 46 is formed at an axial end portion of a housing (main body portion 41). A diffuser cup 50 is attached to a periphery of the gas discharge opening 46. A tub portion 37 is provided on a disk portion 36 which is attached by welding to a peripheral edge of an axial distal end portion 49 of the gas generator. The tub portion 37 is inserted into an aperture 55 of the diffuser cup 50 and bent (a bent portion 38) to fix the diffuser cup 50. Accordingly, the diffuser cup 50 has the closed axial distal end portion 49 and an opening 57 at the opposite end portion. As a result, an inflation gas discharged from a gas discharge opening 46 collides against a wall portion 56 of the diffuser cup 50 and flows towards the opening 57.
US-A No. 2007/0284862 discloses a structure in which a sleeve 40 is provided to surround a convex portion 20aformed at one end of an inflator 20. In the sleeve 40, an opening 52 is formed in a central part of the closed portion (a squeezing portion) 40a at one end portion. An end portion on the opposite side is opened, and a tongue piece portion 40b is formed at part of a peripheral edge of the opening. A hole 48 is provided in the tongue piece portion 40b, and a bolt 44, which is extends from a clip 46 attached to an outer periphery of the inflator 20, is inserted through the hole 48. In other words, the sleeve 40 of US-A No. 2007/0284862 is fixed by the tongue piece portion 40b and the bolt 44 formed at a periphery of the inflator 20.